Italy’s Energy City Hall starts first cross-border energy community

From pv magazine Italy

ECH, the first Italian energy community (CER), has signed an agreement with partners in the Principality of Monaco and France’s Alpes-Maritimes Department to create the first cross-border energy community.

“This is an agreement, not yet a CER. The legal entity ECH proposed this project, and two real estate companies have joined,” said Sergio Olivero, president of the ECH scientific committee and director of Business and Financial Innovation at the Energy Center of the Polytechnic of Turin. “The process has already begun. The difference compared to European projects is that the CER itself promotes the initiative. Concernet, an association of energy communities, will manage operations. It is a digital platform promoted by Energy City Hall, based on artificial intelligence, that allows CERs to be aggregated.”

ECH and its two partners will meet shortly to discuss next steps. Olivero said the first operational plenary meeting is scheduled for early October in Monte Carlo. The CER aims to be legally established within about 12 months.

“We intend to contact the GSE [Energy Services Manager] as soon as possible; it will be up to them. We will ask for guidance on how non-Italian entities can join the CER,” Olivero said. “If standards and regulatory bodies provide direction, our goal is to establish the first cross-border CER in 2026.”

“If foreign partners can join the CER under Italian rules, remuneration will follow regulations,” Olivero said. “But this must be understood. There are no public funds at the moment; this is an example of private collaboration.”

The Energy City Hall CER already meets primary booth-level standards of the Italian energy agency Gestore dei servizi energetici (GSE). This recognition could accelerate the creation of a cross-border CER compared with starting from scratch.

“Two real estate developers involved in urban regeneration – Miky Build from Monte Carlo and MC Edil Solutions from Menton – proposed an active CER,” said Marco Bailo, president of ECH. “They had a creative idea they liked. Electric car charging is free in Monte Carlo. This is an opportunity. Some initiatives can already be implemented.”

Bailo and Olivero noted that Energy City Hall was Italy’s first CER and that the country now hosts many CERs.

“We have tried to provide a practical basis for this possibility. The RED 2 Directive and Directive 944 of 2019 form the basis, along with the Clean Energy Package,” explained Olivero. “These directives have been transposed by legislative decrees 199/2021 (RED 2) and 210/2021 (944 of 2019). The Ministry of the Environment decree of December 2023, referenced by the GSE, explicitly defines the possibility of creating ‘Cross-Border Energy Communities.’”

ECH noted that some European projects are studying cross-border CERs. Italian research institute Eurac has published a report, but issues remain unresolved.

“France implemented the European directive differently than Italy. What we are doing is similar to the Magliano d’Alpi CER,” said Olivero. “When we started that CER, the decree transposing RED 2 had not yet been published; we were still waiting for GSE guidelines. In this case too, we started in a pioneering way. There isn’t much clarity. The situation is similar. We said, ‘Let’s get started’.”

Aside from selling energy through a cross-border CER, ECH said its goal is to stimulate debate.

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